The handling and disposal of such materials as waste materials, particularly in urban areas, is becoming increasingly more difficult and at the same time requiring accomplishment in as short a period as practicable. With the growth in population and the corresponding urban growth, the quantity of such materials to be handled is accordingly increased. Moreover, the kinds of materials are considerable, e.g., paper, metal, plastic, wood chips, rock products and manufactured items as found in solid wastes, for example. In addition, although some value may be obtained via reclaiming a portion of solid wastes, for example, the overall cost of handling must be kept as low as possible.
Irrespective of processing techniques employed, the materials reference above are usually collected by trucks for delivery to a facility where they are unloaded at one or more specific locations at the facility. Since the entire throughpout for the facility must be handled at these unloading sites, the equipment must be unusually reliable, since a total breakdown for evern a relatively short time, could quickly result in an undesirably large accumulation of materials. In operation, the equipment at the unloading site must be able to break up clumps of materials that form during unloading and then move them to other stations for processing.
Although, as already alluded to, the apparatus and facility of this invention can be usefully employed with materials of great variety, the apparatus and facility will be described herein particularly in connection with the handling of solid wastes.